This blog was originally posted on the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust website on October 23, 2025. The Trust is co-managed by National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy.
In 2023, the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust, co-managed by National Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy, opened its inaugural round of funding for projects that would protect or restore wetlands and habitats in Great Salt Lake’s surrounding ecosystem to benefit the hydrology of the lake. Eight projects were awarded more than $8.5 million in funding over the next two years for work that spanned more than 13,000 acres of wetlands and habitat. One of those projects is now complete: The Nature Conservancy’s Peregrine Pond. As Program Director for the Trust, I had the opportunity to visit the site—I was amazed by the transformation.
Walking along Peregrine Pond’s shore, I observed Curlews and American Avocets thriving, a small group of White-faced Ibis delicately plucking prey, Snowy Plovers exploring the moist sands, Black-necked Stilts tip-toeing through the shallows, and even a Great Blue Heron patiently statuesque on the far shore.
Turning north, one could see irrigated rows of crops channeling water downslope into these nascent ponds. Beyond the fields, new homes pressed tightly against the border. Looking at the impacts of this single pond, I was filled with a sense of restoration and hopefulness. In 2023 when The Nature Conservancy (TNC) first applied for the grant, this ecosystem was dysfunctional, like countless other wetland areas along the shores of Great Salt Lake.
“Great Salt Lake and its wetlands have experienced profound changes over the years as water levels have receded and urban growth encroaches on the shoreline,” said Mike Kolendrianos, Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve Manager, as we explored the Preserve. “We really feel the challenges of those two forces here at The Nature Conservancy’s Shorelands Preserve.”
In addition to providing wildlife habitat and ecological benefits, the Preserve is a critical, protected landscape situated between Farmington Bay and growing communities.
The land that makes up the Preserve was once part of a large, healthy wetland ecosystem with open ponds where water lapped against dunes anchored with native plants and grasses. Fast forward to just a few years ago, this entire wetland was covered with phragmites.
“In the mid-1980s when the lake hit its high-water point, it killed the native vegetation in this area. When the lake receded it left perfect conditions for the phragmites to thrive, choking out the native plant community and reducing the heterogeneity of habitat to an invasive monoculture,” continued Mike.
Although the landscape had already been altered by humans, this relatively natural system still possessed essential ecosystem services that benefitted the native flora and fauna of Great Salt Lake. This balance persisted for most of the 20th century, even as housing and industrial development grew. Eventually however, the transition from the surrounding agricultural lands to urban communities led to less water flowing into the shallow ponds, and the aggressive invasion of phragmites led to even less open water habitat.
Recognizing this, the grantees developed an objective: re-establish the hydrologic and ecologic functions in this part of the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve and therefore reduce the phragmites’ footprint and impact on native plants and animals. This goal led them to apply for a grant through the Great Salt Lake Watershed Enhancement Trust’s (the Trust) wetland restoration program in 2023. The Trust Advisory Council voted unanimously to award TNC’s project proposal following a careful review of the hydrologic and ecologic benefits to Great Salt Lake by a technical review committee comprised of GSL and wetland experts.
With the Trust’s funding, the project was developed to restore 60 acres of wetlands and directly improve a 250-acre mosaic of adjacent upland habitat. Benefits of the proposed restored wetland system included improved water quality, mitigation of stormwater flow events, increased sediment deposition, improved groundwater recharge, diverse native species growth, and greater precision in phragmites management. And of course – the new wetlands would attract a wide variety of bird species.
Project designers set out to mimic the natural system as it once existed. This approach ultimately created an aesthetically natural system with durability and the optimal hydrologic and ecologic functionality. Engineers mapped the land surface, identified existing depressions, found oolitic sands that indicated previous shorelines, and chose strategic locations for water control structures to allow flow and depth management control.
TNC designed the wetland system to receive upland runoff from irrigated fields as well as accept storm surge water. Deeper pond depths would discourage phragmites recolonization, encourage greater bird species richness, and give aquatic insects, mollusks, amphibians, crustaceans, and small mammals the opportunity to thrive once again.
Today, less than two years later, their efforts have transformed the dysfunctional phragmites stand into their vision of a healthy wetland complex.
“Standing here two years ago, none of these species were present. In fact, the phragmites was so thick, one could not see past it to the island. We knew that with the funding from the Trust, this entire landscape could be transformed into something beautiful. We did not expect it to happen so quickly or completely though,” said Mike.
The partnership between Utah state agencies, the state legislators and policy leaders, conservation organizations, and the Trust enabled this transformation. Additionally, the Utah Geological Survey has incorporated the new wetland complex into a broader scale study to better understand how impounded ponds can deepen a wetland hydroperiod, expand the total wetland area, and reduce impacts from floods and droughts. As Utah’s population flourishes and continues to grow, the subsequent development can bring unintended harm to the natural habitats and landscapes we love.
Not only is Peregrine Pond a wonderful reminder of the importance of dedicating our available resources to the protection and restoration of the wetlands surrounding Great Salt Lake, it’s success also serves as an affirmation that Utah can reverse some of the changes time has visited on these habitats. We can make durable and positive changes to these wetlands if we collaborate, cooperate, and remain hopeful.
